The prices listed in this survey were published in the Daily Record
[Morristown, New Jersey]
newspaper, the first fifteen days of selected months each decade. Staple items in several popular consumer categories were selected: automobiles,
clothing, food & beverages, furniture, household goods, newspapers, personal care & health, real
estate and recreation.
Whenever possible, we selected items/brands (televisions, garden hoses, breakfast cereal)
found in today's stores. This makes it possible to take a 1945 "shopping list" to your local supermarket or department
store and compare prices.

Items differ between decades because some were not advertised or were advertised without prices (20% off). Some things were invented along the way (televisions,
microwave ovens) and others were selected because they illustrate significant items from a specific decade (cashmere
sweaters, food processors). What is NOT advertised, as in NO new car ads in 1944 (World War II, gas rationing and metal going to defense industries), can be as important as what is.
The problems of quantity and quality also figure prominently in any price comparison project. That's why we included unit
sizes and brand names when listed.

New York Times Historic (Proquest) [1851-present]database is useful for articles (gas prices in the 1920s,
subway fare increases) and advertisements (box of candy in the 1930s, World's Fair admission 1939 & 1964).

Books

Value of a Dollar: Colonial Era to the Civil War 1600-1865

Value of a Dollar: Prices and Incomes in the United States 1865-2009 (both by Greyhouse Publishing)
Excellent compendiums of prices for popular items extracted from federal statistical sources, advertisements, company catalogs
(Sears, Montgomery Ward) and other primary sources. Prices are provided for food, clothing, furniture, household goods,
medical items, personal care, automobiles, amusements and more. Data also extends to consumer expenditures, average
salaries, selected stock prices, gasoline prices, telephone rates and U.S. postage.

Standard Catalog of American Cars (1805-1942) & other old car catalogs...also includes specs and options.

A note about wartime prices: Food, gasoline and other essential items are often precious commodities during
wartime. Prices are determined by availability and governmental regulation. In World War I our federal government
established the U.S. Food Administration, headed by Herbert Hoover. During World War II the Office of Price Administration
(1942-1945) set the prices of various consumer goods to stabilize the economy in the United States.
War ration books were required to purchase some
items.